#especially if your waifu is haru

[alazyparallelworld]

13, 30, 31?

13. what’s your opinion on the dr 3 anime?

30. which character would've deserved to survive?

31. is there a character you think who shouldn’t have survived, but did?

spoilers, obviously

13 - as mentioned in the tags, i, don't particularly care for SDR2... despite my appearances, and fixation on sai/ou, i lean towards GL and HL, and the most of SDR2 gives me for those is kuzu/peko, and... well, chapter 2...

and the anime, kind of obliterates the - themes, arc, intent behind chiaki. kodaka has hisssss waifu biases (this happens with haru, too) - and the cast's induction to the remnants is, weak, and i am a MASSIVE sucker for brainwashing, so me going 'meh' at it, says, a lot.

altogether it soured my... already soured feelings on SDR2. there is a lot of interesting concepts here, but, the only character i feel was executed well in the SDR2 portion of the anime is ryota. who is a new character. i love him and his relationship w twogami is amazing, etc. so, uh, despair arc. is bad and boring and was painful to sit thru.

future arc! i like it, honestly, even if it's another 'mrhghg this is cool in theory but done really poorly,' and honestly i really think. a lot of things introduced in dr 3 come to fruition in v3. i joke that, 'kodaka just wanted to work on v3, but they made him make an anime,' and i'm PARTIALLY kidding. and the best episode of dr 3 happens during this - altho it's not on the cast, either, it's the udg episode, and it blows the rest of the anime out of the water.

tl;dr Haha This Sucks, Man. this is an anime you can only watch w/ someone else, i feel, otherwise you'll go crazy. i like ryota and miaya a lot, i genuinely enjoy ruruka... in HPA aus, i make a point to, include ryota. my special hikikomori boy.

30 - mmmm not sure. i think, tojo - she shouldn't have survived into endgame, no, but one of the reasons i am so aggressively MEH abt her is that, she doesn't have time to develop or shine. she is, nothing, and the translation treats her motivation as a cheap joke. politicizes it. fun fact, the guy who handled the monokubz, and by extension gonta n angie, is the same guy. yeah, that guy. =_= responsible for a lot of the very shitty decisions in the localization. if SC thinks it's ok to make her primary motivation as a joke, why should i take her seriously?

i think she should've survived until ch3, to have some time to flesh things out. she shouldve been a bit undecided abt, you know, betraying her classmates. she should've become a temp antagonist, especially since she tries to set ouma up as untrustworthy and thus unreliable for his testimony in the trial - and she is very, very angry at sai, and gaslights him to hell and back. and it's EFFECTIVE. w/o momo, sai would've crumbled. give me, more of that, dammit!!! GOD!!! but no, so i am just.. ugh... tojo, right. i always forget abt her while doing cast stuff.

hoshi, i think, is another obvious 'I WANT HIM TO LIVEEEEEEEEEEE' but i don't know how well that would've worked with the ult. ending and intent of v3.

uh... mmm... thh, i don't really know... haha. i actually quite like, hifumi, but he was nevverrr everrr gonna survive. too bad...? some of the joke characters im like. Wait, I enjoy them, give me more, and at least hagakure survives!!! i'm happy abt that!!!

31 - unpopular opinion incoming, but i don't think any of the survivors were 'undeserved' - while i quite... dislike SDR2's cast... they made the right choice of who got out of the game alive. i wouldn't change any of them there.

for THH, i, mmm... i never quite 'clicked' with togami. he's fine... i suppose... but i don't find him and his attitude quite as compelling as ouma. nor komaeda's, who i am so, 'I AM SO OVER THIS GUY, EVERYONE STOP FUCKING TALKING ABT KOM!!!' about, lol. maybe he's more basic bc thh is, at its core, a very basic story... it was the first, and in a game series that afaik was not Planned to have sequels etc.

v3 literally all of them deserved to survive. i like each and every one of them. i am glad that yumeno didn't have, the pitfall of, 'suffers massively but grows bc of x's characters death, only to die later,' like ishi and hiyoko did. she's lovely, i really do think she is.

haru... haha, i... do like her... totally not in the way kodaka intended, but i was like. OHHH OK HARU IS WAY MORE COMPELLING when i realized that she and angie are narrative foils. that opened my eyes to her character - i appreciate her a lot more now, and the line abt saihara realizing 'do you want to die' always being a joke made me smile. i also think fandom shows her a LOT more aggro than she is - her first, chokehold, was instinctual fear. "everyone is scared of her," once they know her talent, as she says. and in a death game... ofc her first reaction would be of panic... and the second - ffs, ouma just threatened them with a bomb! this girl does not hate ouma. she is the second to last, second to kiibo (WHO, IS A STANDIN FOR THE AUDIENCE, SO LIKE-) to finally be Done with ouma's bullshit. she loses her cool when ouma injures momota for the 2nd time. ETC ETC. and, she has to be deliberately manipulated, by shirogane to actually kill ouma. she does not for real hate this guy, she would not bully him in school, or try and get saihara to break up w/ him. lol

while kodaka's waifuism really shines thru her (he got angry that she wasnt ranked high in popularity, if you didnt know...) i think there's a lot to love abt her, even if it takes a bit to think abt. the things i appreciate abt her probably don't appeal to others. so, yeah!!! i like that she survived!!! i'm glad that she got to - live, and not as the ult survivor for 54... that she steps into the world with sai and yumeno. she is friends with saihara on her own, i'm glad that they have e/o, after everyone else... and that yumeno isn't alone, herself.

saihara deserved to survive end of story like beyond '(real) protag plot armor' - which ALSO isn't true, kiibo is the FOR REAL protag in the eyes of the meta audience - his arc is very grueling and long. it may not be.... that super in depth, but he is not this emo depressed boy who listens to MCR, either. he has a lot of trauma prior to the game - ppl don't talk abt his scopophobia often enough, and the 'eyes on him,' and the - the perjury, effect, has a bunch of eyes, investigating, judging you... while it is the same for aka - come on. it is very clearly intended to show sai's fear of the truth and of lies. he goes thru a lot of twists n turns, and it would've, killed me if he died... or, at least, if he died and the others had survived. either all of them die, or he has friends... which he does...!! altho the epilogue was SUPER CONTROVERSIAL in house, lol.

[ha-hatdog]

haru kato hcs

- what is it like to be dating haru kato?

omg excited about this cuz i want me some haru content. pretty boi needs tons of love and affection. we need more haru kato content. i demand it!

requested by @beef-tomatoes : can you do haru kato dating headcanons. here you have the frog man🐸 < |> /\ the frog man says: have a nice day💖😌✌

requests open

__

first things first - congrats on getting this man to be your boyfriend because boy oh boy you gonna get the best domestic life ever

haru kato is a simple man with a simple life who knows his responsibilities so expect perfect husbando and waifu qualities

cooking for you is his favorite thing to do. he loves being able to alleviate your stress, especially after a particularly troubling day at work/university

he loves it when you cook for him too. it makes him feel special and his heart just soars. this man will not leave the kitchen just so he can watch you working your magic with ingredients and spice while wearing that dumb dreamy face. he holds himself back from sliding behind you and embracing you because you look so good with an apron for the reason he doesn't want to distract you but most of the time he just does it because you're too cute

if you know how to cook, he'll give you tips here and there but will leave you to your cooking majority of the time

if you can't cook, expect a full blown cooking lesson from him because he said he won't be able to cook for you all the time and he'll be damned if you always order take out or buy those just microwave packages in convenient stores

if your cooking turned out good, haru will eat seconds and thirds, complimenting you every now and then after gulping down what he was chewing. will definitely ask you to cook more for him and if you can't, he'll brush it off saying maybe next time but internally he was pouty because he wants more. probably thinking of marrying you already

if your cooking turned out bad, he will tell you it could use a little more work, offer himself to help you, but he'll still eat it because you made it for him aww. still probably thinking of marrying you

dates with haru is sort of rare. crime doesn't sleep and nor does he so most of your dates are at his place - just watching a movie and eating whatever he cooked

he always has to have a hand on you or an arm over your shoulder. gotta make sure you're really there

but if he does have time, he will take you out on a simple date that benefits both of your interests. haru won't say but he'll always lean more in your interests in dates because he feels so bad for depriving you of his quality time. this is how he silently atones, plys he buys you small and thoughtful gifts

remember when i said crime doesn't sleep nor does he? well, haru gets tired often. it was natural because of his field of work. haru will hesitate to go to your place because he needs some loving and some caring but doesn't want to be a bother so he calls you to ask permission before going

will want to sleep with you once he gets there but you force him to eat because he needs to he healthy to continue being a detective. he will grumble while you make him food but his heart is soft that you think about his well being

"my girlfriend is best girl" he whispers in a slur, trying to keep himself from falling asleep in the dining room while eating

will drag you to your bed after eating and will pull you down with him on the bed. haru will have his arms draped around you and snuggle in your chest. he will let out a content sigh if you snuggle back and run your fingers through his hair

haru just want cuddles with his girlfriend after a hard day at work. spoil him please

haru will be happy if he wakes up and you're still in his arms but will scoff if you are not. haru will stand up no matter how tired he still is and drag you back to bed to continue your cuddle

tell me haru won't try pranking you and feeling bad after it

head pats while saying "sorry babe, i didn't mean to, i'm sorry, yes yes, i'll be a better boyfriend from now on. come here and give me a hug"

whenever you two bathe together, he loves it when you clean his back because he can feel the stress go bye bye with your soft fingers

he washes your hair and he sometimes tries to make stupid hairstyles with your lathered tresses and you'll always rate them

most of the times you take baths together, it is nonsexual. he just appreciates you being there

but haru will slip in a few rounds whenever you two feel like getting it on

soft dom but probs hiding a few kinks

forehead kisses is his favorite because he gets to see your happy face looking up at him whenever he pulls away

haru is definitely a tease whenever you try to kiss him - lips, cheeks, forehead, neck - you can't reach any of them even if you go on your tip toes because he's tall. he won't bend down so you can kiss him because you look so adorable trying so hard to give him love and affection

he'll probably be the one to kiss you after a few minutes of teasing. he can't help it. you look so cute

gah his heart is full

when haru gets jealous, he is irritated. he will come up to you, an annoyed glare on his face, and taking your hand.

haru goer grrr my baby but i won't hurt you or anything because my baby finds it bad but i'm warning you -

when you're the one who's jealous, he finds it amusing

he smothers his grin when you get adorably protective of him

he teases you about it but hugs you after to affirm that this man ain't going anywhere

laundry days are messy, messier than when the two of you have food fights

you two keep throwing drenched clothes or bubbles or water at one another

haru is merciless with laundry throwing fights

expect a shirt thrown swiftly at your face with a resounding SMACK

this boy ain't losin to laundry throwing fights

you always stop by the precint whenever you can just to visit haru

he used to hate it because his coworkers always flock around you whenever you come by but soon grew to love it because you seem to enjoy being around them and you gain nee friends

he'll talk you through his work process and he's very proud whenever you go all ooh ahh so cool because he has an ego and loves that you are interested in his work as much as he does to yours

he tries to be professional whenever at work but he'll sneak in a few kisses if he think nobody is looking. but not you tho, you kiss him whenever you want and wherever you want

someone is always looking so he gets teased quite a lot by his coworkers and he gets all blushy and tsundere aww

hugs with haru are always tight knit. the reason? because he loves holding you, that's literally it

did i mention piggy back rides? no? well, haru doesn't do them unless necessary like you're super tired or got a sprain but jump on his back and kiss him on top of his head and nyoom you are now on a piggy back ride

haru is a huge fan of discounts and coupons so you always have to help him find the best item there is that is discounted or you have coupons for

you gave him a small notebook to keep all his coupons and his face just goes (⊙o⊙)

hand holding in the market while shopping. he won't let you go until you're at the cashier because last time he let you get some items alone, he ended up going to the intercom to call for you

"y/n where are you? i just told you to get a soap and find me at the dairy section."

but he don't mind tho because it's a good excuse to keep you close to him

arguing over which product - any product at all - is better to buy. sorry to say this but haru wins all the time. you swear, this man has a sixth sense for which items to buy

arguments with haru is . . . well maybe that's for another time

but silly arguments with haru is common. fights over who gets to clean the dishes, who makes the bed, which movie or series is better, which cop movie superior, which food to eat, who is the big spoon - but they're all fun snd games

haru will make sure to win as the big spoon tho because again, he has a hidden ego and his heart swells when he sees how tiny you are compared to him

getting drunk with haru is always a rollercoaster. he's a rambling drunk? well, you're the agree with everything drunk

"the floor is too cold. why is it always cold? i just want warmth and peace" cue haru sliding on the floor with a red face because of the alcohol. he's very at ease with you so being stupid and childish is norm for him

"yes, yes, i agree, the floor is always cold. bad floor, you're making haru sad" then you slide with him on the floor

haru turns to you "you don't make me sad"

you turn to him "yes, i make you happy"

you two are just a pair of drunk lovebirds

patch him up when he gets hurt in his work

he won't feel much pain if it's you who's patching him up

he doesn't why but that's that

kiss his boo boos he likes them he's an actual bab for you

haru will always bring you to work/university. it doesn't matter if he is late as long as gets you there

actually it matters that he is late. he just never tells you so you won't tell him to stop. that's why once you're out of sight, after you exchange goodbyes snd kisses, you bet your ass he's speeding through the streets to get to the precint in time (got tickets from speeding but he hides them from you but you'll find out eventually lmao)

since he is a cop/detective, of course he had a gun. he won't bring it to your place but whenever you're at his place or at the precint, he'll allow you to hold it, with him supervising of course, and he'll probably teach you how to fire a gun in a range

will catch you whenever you suffer the recoil of pulling the trigger

will pull a cheesy line like "falling for me now, huh?"

when daisuke joins the precint, haru is less than thrilled

since you always visit him and he became partners with daisuke, that meant you have meet to this rich bastard

and he doesn't like it because

1) he's rich af

2) he's somewhat arrogant

3) he doesn't want to admit it but daisuke is handsome

he is 101% fuming when he sees you talking to daisuke than him. his mind reverts back to all those times you always talk to him in the precint when in reality you were just talking to daisuke for 3 minutes

haru is overdramatic and

insecure

he's scared that you'll leave him for daisuke

daisuke has everything. money, looks, fame - he can't even buy you something extravagant. he's still saving up for your birthday, doing overtime and stuff while still buying you small gifts when daisuke can just give you the whole world with a snap of his finger

it'll eat him up alive

he just wants to spend the rest of his life with you but maybe you'll be happier with daisuke?

when you learned this, you just burst out of tears because

this baby is sad and scared of losing you

so you did something to make him assured you only want him and planning to be with him always

haru has always insisted that you move in with him after a year of being together

and then you show up at his place with your stuff and saying "I'll grab more of my stuff tomorrow so help me move in"

haru has never been so happy and excited that he cooked a whole feast for the two of you

you two gets stomachaches the day after

so you stay in his bed the whole day being lazy and snuggling

haru turned off his phone when daisuke was calling him because duh he's spending precious time with his lovely girlfriend

in conclusion, haru kato is whipped for you

oh, by the way, you and daisuke partnered up to mess with haru and now haru has one less braincell because it decided to be best friends with the braincell that always has money in its disposal

"she better be happy i love her"

haru loves you vewy mooch

[kareofbears]

persona 5 strikers thoughts and feelings

This is going to be a long post. Like, the type of post you’d only really have time to read when you’re trying to sleep but you’re not ready to be unconscious yet so you’re just looking for something to do to spend your time with minimal effort. 

So in 2018, a masterpiece was born into the world: Into the Spider-verse was released and it was amazing—it’s honestly the best spiderman movie we have without a doubt, and it’ll be very far into the future before Spider-verse is beaten as the best spiderman movie. Them’s the facts. Then in 2019, Spider-man: Far From Home was dropped. It’s a great movie! Great characters, great continuation of who these characters are and works fantastic as a continuation of a story. It’s really hard trying to take the torch of a previous movie (or in Marvel’s case, juggling twenty something movies) and come up with a new movie that both works on its own, as well as being the next step in this series of films. Thus, with that idea in mind, I think it’s kind of unfair to judge into the spiderverse and far from home, because these are two movies with two completely different objectives in mind. 

Okay, so this is still a persona 5 strikers post, I promise, but the idea is the same: Persona 5 could basically do whatever it wanted—new story, new characters, new everything, and it’s just plain old awesome. However, Persona 5 strikers did not have that sort of freedom. It was bound to the original game, and it had its own rules and stuff it had to keep intact, characters they had to work with, and on top of that, it had to justify its existence as a sequel (lets pretend money doesnt exist lmfao). 

SO, the big question is: did it do that? Did it justify its existence? 

And my answer: holy fuck did it ever do that

I came into this game knowing the extreme bare minimum. I knew there was someone named Sophia, and i knew there was roadtrip, and i knew there were Personas. That’s my knowledge of it before i played it on the Switch.  I should also clarify like, early on, that i was not expecting anything from this game. At all. I was the world’s biggest cynic of this game—if you scroll down my p5s tag far enough, youll just see me complaining about a game that hasn’t even come out yet. I was fully expecting to have this be a Waifu show, and any male character that isn’t Akira to just be shoved aside like some kind of nerd in a high school hallway, and i have never been more pleased to be wrong. In fact, i actually owe it an apology, because of how fucking rude i was for no reason!!! Because this game deserves everything to be honest. 

Persona 5 strikers is, frankly, insane. Insane in the sense that it got to pull shit off that just would never have existed in the original game, because the original game is scared. It had to be as impressive as possible and garner as much attention as possible. Strikers does not have that problem—every single person who bought that game does not need to be convinced that persona 5 is a good game. They already played it. That means Atlus can just fuck around and have a good time, and man did they have a good time. There’s still scenes that still shock me if i think about it too hard, because i’m used to atlus having to follow this sort of rule set when it comes to persona 5 (or any of the main games im assuming, but i havent played them.) And on top of that, there’s still shit that’s Atlus Trademarked Branded in a good way. The style of story of story telling, and revealing the mystery that is so integral to what p5 is, is still there. 

So, to make this even a little bit comprehensible, i will make a list! 

First of all, What is this game?

In short, this game is an OVA of an anime. It’s bonus side content that has one thing in mind: to showcase these lovable characters more by putting them in fun situations. That’s it, and it is just phenomenal. That was the main point of, i’d say, like forty hours of the game. It’s just fun times with fun characters. 

But to get deeper of what i think is happening, or what they were thinking during the development, is that this is a second opportunity. Persona 5 (as we all know) had a lot of problems, and we were not quiet about those problems. We yelled it all out, made posts, made complaints on every social media platform ever. And Atlus heard all of them, and Strikers is a way to mitigate those mistakes. Aside from being a fun OVA, Strikers also works to be a deeper exploration of these characters—more specifically, the characters that did not receive much in the original game. Creating this sequel is having the ability to redo what they felt (or to be more specific, we felt) in the original game while adding new ones. I will get to that in a second.  

The format of the game 

Absolutely brilliant to throw them on a road trip. P5V already forced us to experience Shibuya for 200+ hours, and im so glad that they didn’t do that again. Going from town to town, making us experience these new places alongside our favorite characters is so good, and it just makes sense. It’s fun, it’s lighthearted, and it’s actually shockingly good. But one thing i do want to talk about early on is the way the story unfolds and the villains that they use, and what they do with it because it’s very interesting. 

So as we explore japan and stuff, we encounter jails, and with those jails comes an antagonist. This antagonist works to be a parallel to one of our characters. That character will find it in their hearts to feel bad for the antagonist, because the antagonist could have been them had the original game not happen. At first I thought all of the thieves were gonna get an antagonist, and i was really hyped for the ryuji one. And then came to hour forty of the game where i realized “yeah that’s not gonna happen. There’s just not enough time.” And i was right, and the game ended. But i am not salty at all, honestly, because the people who got a direct antagonist were: Ann, Yusuke, and Haru. (we wont count zen and sophie). 

Is there a trend??? Yes. these are all characters in the original game that have received the worst treatment by atlus. The three of them are basically cast aside the minute they finished their original arc, and its horrible! BUT that’s why this is the path that atlus chose for them—to give them more depth, and screentime, and a way to show their inner self. That isn’t to say that the ones who aren’t those three (makoto, futaba, mona, akira, ryuji) didn’t get anything. Futaba still has her thing at the end with ichinose, and she was very prevalent and animated during the rest of the game. Mona and Akira have to be a focal points, that’s just the nature of the game. The other two though, I will talk about in depth in a second.  

Makoto

Y’all i poke fun at shumako fans sometimes cause its kind of easy and fun, but i honestly love makoto. In my very first playthrough of p5 (my first ever jrpg game, first persona game, i had no idea what i was doing), i had only maxed out two characters: ryuji and makoto. And i know she had a lot of screentime and love in the original game which is great, but i truly felt like she was dissed in this game. Her only roles were

A driver

Someone to tell them “we don’t have a choice. Let’s keep going and see where this takes us.” (seriously, if you replay this game, you will see how much she does this)

Idk, i just wish she had more to do, especially compared to how much love they gave the other characters. 

But let’s talk about some of the new characters! 

Zenkichi

Damn you atlus. Damn you and your insistence at bringing in cop characters. I was fully on board with hating zenkichi, i was fucking ready for it. I was convinced that there was nothing they could do convince to like zenkichi. I was immune to their copaganda. 

And then i ended up loving him, which makes me sad a little bit. I didn’t realize how desperate i was to have an adult who has a persona. Someone who wants the world to change just as much as they do, while still having that aspect of them that makes them adult. Like??? As someone who is technically an adult, its a breath of fresh air. An adult. Who fights. For justice. Using a persona. And god i love akane so much, and her obsession with the thieves (that scene is probably in my top ten fave scenes of the game). Also what i loved about zenkichi is that he fucking hates the cops!! He hates the system of the cops!! And thats why i actually really started to love him!! Because i thought it was atlus saying that the systematic problem of the police cannot be solved by one person, and zenkichi threw away his badge. I actually cried at that part!! 

But then he became a cop again, and i was just :/ but as a character, i really love him to bits and would love to do a study on him, or at least use him as an outside pov. But! i absolutely love his persona, since im a les miserables fan hehe

Sophia 

she’s probably my favorite new aspect of the game. I was ready to not like her—again, i just suck like that, lmfao—and when i saw her, i was scared that she was just another waifu. I mean, she was very cute after all. But then as the game went on, i thought she was a little too cute. And even further into the game, i finally slapped myself in the face and realized oh my god shes not a waifu. Shes a sister. 

That blew my mind, im ngl to you. A female character that isn’t supposed to be romanced? By jove, what a miracle! 

And she…is an amazing character. Im sorry, i just love her so much. I love her so much that she  probably ranks as my fifth or sixth favorite character which is surprising even to me. Everything about her is delightful and invigorating. She’s funny??? Her comedic timing is amazing, and she has such chemistry with the rest of the team. She’s actually useful to the plot, and while her character design is a little too on the nose for me in terms of cuteness (i mean, good god she’s wearing oversized sweater to show how cute and tiny she is, and her hair has literal hearts in it), she is absolutely lovable. 

But what i actually really wanna gush about for a second is sophia at the last stage of the game. You get the idea, i dont really like to get excited over things, so at this point i figured that there was nothing this game could do to shock me. 

And then sophia had a persona awakening. 

Like. holy fuck did i yell. I didnt realize what was happening until the music had already kicked in. and its just so fucking smart!!! Sophia??? The ai?? With no heart?? gOT A PERSONA???? AWAKENING??? BECAUSE SHE LEARNED WHAT THE HEART IS AND THE PASSION THAT YOU NEED IN ORDER TO GET A PERSONA??? I started crying honestly, because it was just so smart. And looking back on it now, its obvious!! Of course it would lead to this, it only made sense that the culmination of her character arc leads to her getting a persona, nothing else would have been as good. Also, her voice actor is just amazing?? When she was talking to ichinose at the end, i actually got incredibly emotional because of the line reads. Its just so spot on and it really captures the essence of sophia.

Muah. five stars Atlus. You got me. 

Ryuji <3!!!!

Oh man. Oh boy. Okay. so where do i start. 

Yall know i love him. Hes probably my favorite fictional male character of all time, and he is the one i was the absolute most cynical about in this game. I was expecting literally nothing. Nothing. Like. nothing. I thought he was just gonna keep being used as a joke, or a gag, and he’s gonna be super horny all the time for the other girls and it was gonna make me mad and there was gonna be some insane homophobic/queerphobic jokes in every other scene and i know i was being unfair, but i cant help it. 

And then i played the first two hours of the game, and i cried the entire time. Because ryuji has never been better than he is in this game. Its crazy. 

The ryuji in persona 5 strikers is who ryuji should have been/how he should have been treated this entire time. From the actual funny jokes (for example, the gold bar joke + his reaction to it in the beginning of the game), defending his female friends instead of being the one people need to defend from (natsume arc), and the fact that he was the one to be there with morgana and akira in the very beginning of the game. Its such a small thing that they didnt even need to do, but it was such an integral part of the original game for me, that i just was convinced that nothing like this was going to happen. But then it happened. Its just small stuff like that that could have been overlooked but it wasn’t because this game? Persona 5 strikers? Fucking loves ryuji. 

The actual respect they gave this boy is insane and i wasn't ready for it. Like, they gave the shujin trio lunch, they gave the little charm of the katana when they were in natsume’s jail, and, in my opinion this is the second-best thing that they could have given ryuji is sophia. Ryuji and sophia are the pinnacle of a brother & sister bonding relationship in the game that isn’t akira & futaba. And its really prevalent too?? Small stuff from the beginning of the game (pulling her out of a jail, calling her shorty), but then you have the iconic “shut the fuck up” scene, and that scene was so well characterized and written and voice acted, that somehow him saying “fuck” was the least exciting part of that scene to me. Ryuji is an older brother to her, like its undoubtable, and its only further cemented at the end of the game where Ryuji helps out ichinose because he knows how much sophia cares about her. This game. Love ryuji. And i love. This game. 

You know what else i love? Akiryu. 

Guys. i was fully prepared to starve in terms of akiryu. But theres just. So much of it. I wont get too deep into it, because i think this aspect of the game for me still needs marinate a little bit. Like, what was that last shot when EMMA died and Ryuji walked to approach Akira so they could relish in their victory together?? And the smile from both of them??? What the fuck. That was amazing. Also Joker being saved by Ryuji when he was about to fall from the cliff to save sophia??? WHAT. The LEADER AND HIS RIGHT HAND MAN? WHAT. anyway. If theres anything i want to keep for myself in my own brain, its the akiryu aspect of this game, so i wont talk too much about that part of things (instead, itll probably manifest in fic lmfaooo). 

Sure, there’s tidbits of stuff i dont like that they gave ryuji: sexualizing ann in that one cut scene and making him touch the jails even though it hurts, and i recognize those and frown at them, but for the most part, i am blown away with how they treated him.

Basically, Ryuji has never been better. From the opening of the game with him being the first text message and the one to sling his arm around akira, to the very last cut scene where it was ryuji wordlessly leaving because he’s so confident that they would never be separated for long, this game adores Ryuji and i am so so happy to say that.

The Royal aspect of things

Yeah, i had to talk about this, but itll be a short thing i just wanted to point out. Because the last part of this game...is persona 5 royal. Which is curious. Like taking reality and giving that power to someone else so you dont have to experience suffering anymore? And even like, the final section just looked a lot like the top half of maruki’s palace?? And whats even crazier is that we had a boss fight with sophia, just like how we had a boss fight with sumire? Royal and Strikers have like, the same thesis statement. It’s kind of uncanny.It’s interesting, it’s like atlus came up with these two ideas, and then just decided they liked both of them so much that they just did it twice. I don’t mind though—actually, in terms of how the last Palace/Jails go, i probably like them both about equally. 

Though i did love the final battle in this one more than i did in royal. Splitting into teams?? Thats cool as fuck, and really innovative and i didnt see it coming. It also kicked my ass. A lot. 

Now for the last stretch: the small stuff!

The music — bomb as fuck. In my heart, Daredevil is ranked the same as Rivers. Axe to grind is also amazing, but Daredevil owns me

Akechi — i really debated whether or not to talk about him, but i figured a bullet point should be enough. Im really shocked that he wasnt in this at all. Like not even a name drop. If this is an OVA, and the point of the game is to please the fans, and akechi is arguably the fan favorite character, i was really ready for something. But there was nothing, except for the pancake hallway if that even counts as a reference. Thats it. Thats all i wanted to say about him.

The humour — FUCKING HILARIOUS im convinced that in my fifty hour playtime, five of that is dedicated to me laughing and unable to continue the game 

Akira — so much personality! His lines of dialogue are crazy sometimes (like. Whats up with him saying Ryuji has ‘nice abs’ when they were in bath? Im crazy and even i dont know what the fuck that could mean) 

Battle system — oh my god i almost forgot to talk about this. I love it! I kind of miss the turn based aspect just because i found it very comforting for some reason, but this hack and slash style of gameplay is so invigorating because i do feel like it justifies shit like the baton pass and huge attacks.  This battle system fully encompases how the Phantom Thieves are supposed to fight, you know what i mean?

Anyway, thats my thoughts on strikers. Loved it. Amazing. 9.3/10, wouldve been higher but Konoe’s Jail almost bored me to death. Also im a monster and i didnt do any requests that isn’t a fun one, teehee. As if i play persona 5 for the persona aspect of things.

[askdespairnagito]

ooc: why i stopped using this blog

(( i recently saw a close friend of mine (@ultimate-waifu-bait) mention this blog, only to have a few discussions ensue about the effect that its disappearance had on the community. and honestly, as much as i'm flattered that anyone would think i had that much influence, you give me too much credit while also inadvertently blaming me for a lot of the problems i still struggle with on my existing, active blogs. i'll try to keep this short and sweet, so here we go. ))

(( in truth, many of zetsuko's important relationships dissolved. one of them due to a personal conflict that i, to this day, don't completely understand and won't discuss with anyone who wasn't involved. another was haru. i think everyone is aware that the relationship between haru and zet had been building for a while, and while that was not something i initially had planned for the blog, i liked the way it was developing, and i got to know the mod of that blog and we agreed to feel it out and go for it. i built my next major event on those two relationships. both of them disappeared over the next few months, making it pretty much impossible to go forward with the event without the end result being a pretty sure death for zet. i tried to push through it anyway without the assistance of the people who were supposed to be involved, but it fell flat. i disliked it a lot, nobody took any interest in it, it was rushed and unexciting, and it was extremely discouraging. ))

(( at that point, the community had already been struggling. i say this because someone attributed the "death" of the community-- which is alive but trying desperately to get people to participate again may i add-- to my blog going inactive. that timeline is wrong. the community had already started to go inactive, which was part of the reason running this blog was so discouraging. with no relationships and no anons sending asks, it was impossible to be active. i would've had to make update post after update post, every single day, in order to even keep him alive, which at that point didn't seem worth it. ))

(( now moving on to the primary reason. i stopped liking him. when i started his blog, i had an idea of how i wanted his character to progress, and there's been a lot of adjustment over time, but the more certain relationships pulled him one way or another, the more i disliked the direction he was being taken. quite honestly, the moment the first seance occurred, it was the beginning of the end, though i had no idea at the time. his blog was around for so, so long after that, but at that point he was dragged away from the more grounded-if-absurd world of danganronpa toward the supernatural, a world he doesn't fit in or operate out of. he doesn't have powers, unless you count his luck, and that's no match for angels and demons and ghosts and all of the other forces he had to interact with. and i enjoyed the people i interacted with, but i didn't enjoy the story i was creating. by the time i stopped using this blog, he was hardly recognizable to me. i tried, in a last stitch attempt, to reset him and take him back to a more familiar place, but i realized that even then he wasn't familiar anymore-- i'd moved so far past where he started and so far away from what i wanted him to be that being him was almost jarring and uncomfortable. combined with the lack of interest from anons and the lack of impactful relationships to motivate me to care about him, especially the dissolution of two primary relationships, there was no good motive for me to stay here. ))

(( i loved this blog, and i still do, as well as all the memories i have of it. the relationships he had with people like haru, nagito, chieko, kihiro, ed, even mukuro/ash at the time, were a major part of my life, and extremely formative for me. this was my first dip into roleplay, and since then it has become one of my primary hobbies. hence why i'm still in the community, just operating in a place where i feel more comfortable and in control of the story i'm telling. ))

(( if you cared about this blog, you should care about the blogs that are still around, oc and canon and au. you should care about chieko and nagito, aditi, hajime, fay, hibiki, miyako, miu. you should care about the new blogs that are struggling to exist and dying out within days. you should care about not just witnessing the stories that we are telling, but participating in them and progressing them, sending asks, stirring drama between characters. us mods love it when you snitch to other characters, or lie to our characters, or start fights or play devil's advocate. think of the relationship between zet and nagito. it was entirely confrontational, but some of my fondest memories of roleplay are of the infamous love potion m!a, the killing game, and the two of them fighting together to save izuru and hajime from the future foundation. seeing other people mention your blog to others in the community is so encouraging, and seeing other mods care about and nurture the relationships you are interested in is incredible. the relationship between zet and nagito might not have developed if that hadn't been the case. i was terrified of nagito's mod, but they took an interest in zet and anons constantly bugged him about what zet was doing, but in a way that not only progressed the relationship but progressed both of their stories rather than ignoring them. meanwhile it's depressing to see mods have to put out update after update begging for asks and struggling to maintain relationships. the stakes in a relationship are what make it fun for the mods, and if no one cares about the relationship, there aren't any stakes, and they probably are going to either stop nurturing it or lose interest in it altogether. i'm here, saying all of this now, because i'm begging you to care about the people who are here. stop reminiscing about the people you miss and leaving everyone else out in the cold. as much as i appreciate being missed, i'm still in the community and struggling, and i don't want the hard work of the people who came before me and the continuing work of the people who came after me to be completely ignored for the sake of broken nostalgia. i appreciate being loved, but the way to respect me and show that you genuinely cared about the story i was telling is to care about the stories that people are still telling with a lot less support than i got. ))

[narcopharmacist]

🦋FKBUL episode 4 has changed my mind about Suzue❤️

👁👄👁 In this episode Suzue did a 180 degree turn LMAO

❤️👉 She’s completely head over heels🥰 (I wanna say in ❤️ love ❤️but I’ll reserve it for a later time) for that one man what’s his name?💀😂😂

❤️👉 Suzue literally chased after him, but with those heels of hers? Sis gon break a leg💀

❤️👉 She locked herself in the basement with her surveillance cameras just to monitor Daisuke’s whereabouts. 🥰🥺 Grandma checked up on her too, like that supportive in-law LMAO She literally turned zombie mode and did you see grandma look at her bags of trash wondering “Oh my goodness this girl is over the top”; They also seem close, just like Suzue and Kikuemon in the novel lol

❤️👉 Suzue is actually a “Yes I do the cooking yes I do the cleaning” type of gurl; she that ✨perfect✨ waifu

Now for the song. When Daisuke returned Suzue’s gon be like, to stop him from running away next time:

[Verse 1]

You got that good good, baby‚ don't you?

Got  that good good, baby, don't you?

But  you leavin' solo

Ain't regular‚ that ain't regular

I  ain't gon' keep, keep fightin' for it

Ain't gon' keep, keep fightin' for it

'Cause you know this thing here

Ain't regular, that ain't regular

[Chorus]

❤️I'ma break you off, let me be your 💞motivation💞💞

💞To stay and give it tonight💞

And, baby, turn around, let me give you innovation

🦋Hey, 'cause I do it so right🦋

❤️Think about it, ooh, I think about it

🥰Think about it, ooh, take a look at me now 👀💞

Hey, a little motivation, alright🥰

Guessed the song yet? 👉 Motivation by Normani ❤️💞✨

++Other observations:

🦋 They didn’t say the real reason why Daisuke stormed out. Suzue and grandma enumerated stuff but are those really it? One thing for sure is it involved Suzue cuz sis chased her mans

🦋 Suddenly Suzue changed the way she called Daisuke. There was no “-sama” when we first met her.

🦋 Haru did not ask any further about Suzue, I mean, now he thinks she’s single right? After crushing on her? And what gave away for him to actually think Daisuke and Suzue were married? Hmmm?

🦋 Daisuke’s disclosure on his rship with Suzue. I’ve seen reviews on MAL about how they don’t really appreaciate his voice because it’s monotonous and you can’t really tell what he’s feeling with his poor inflection. Miss K’s post: Did Daisuke lie about it because after he said “Suzue is a relative” he looked at the screen showing Suzue’s message for him, which could mean he’d seen it before saying that line (which we don’t see nor know), and he looks at it for us to see. I watched it again and yes, perhaps the way he answered was stiff, so stiff that when you think further about it you might say that he said it at the heat of the moment. Especially with his “Yeah.”

🦋 Actually, per ^, I think he said “Suzue is a relative” because that’s what he considers her to be. Just like in the novel, they considered each other as brother and sister even though they’re not actually related, but in the anime they toned it down to “relative” instead of “sibling.” They’re not married in the novel (but they could be at the end), so they’re also not married in the anime obvi.

🦋 Check out the scene in the dining room. I don’t have a picture of it (rather the quality of my picture is bad lmao) but observe the photo frames on the wall. There is one that can be kinda seen better because of the lighting. The lower picture on the left. Zoom in on it, and it looks like a man and a woman. Are they Daisuke’s parents? Or... based on the hairline of the woman sitting down, they’re someone else. I guess I can consider this a hint? Considering FKBUL is always asking for random stuff on their BUL Point page LOL

🦋 They have updated her description on LINE, while it’s still the same on their site (“Identity is shrouded in mystery.”) Plus they also just revealed Daisuke’s real height LMAO 🥺🤭 So can we consider a possibility that some day they’re gonna SPECIFY Suzue’s real rship with Daisuke? 😉😙Relative is too broad of a term, and her actions scream her feelings. Will we be getting an eppy where we get to see Daisuke’s POV about her?

😍💞The best part 💞—> Daisuke prepared food for Suzue and even did a demonstration on how to do it ❤️😍🥰 And when she tasted it we get to see Daisuke already smiling, as if he’s THAT confident Suzue is going to love what he made. 😏 Maybe we can also say that he knows Suzue will love whatever he does and will always support him. 🥂🍾 FKBUL did say she’s his “supporting role.”

[misc-headcanons]

Can I have some headcanons for Haru Okumura with a male s/o who is a male idol and lead singer of the most popular boy band?

Haru would adore her boyfriend's band! She buys all of her boyfriend's merch, specifically anything of them as a chibi (like keychains or plushies). They all just look so cute and she can't stop fawning over them all.

She'd offer to let the band use one of the venues her father's company owns as a concert space, and most of their concerts use Okumura Foods-owned companies as their concession stands/vendors. Haru tries her best to maintain a sense of business integrity so people don't think she's propping up her boyfriend's entire career, but she really does want to help him succeed however she can. 

She offers to help choreograph some of their music videos, but since all she really knows how to choreograph is ballet...well, it'd take a really specific song for a boy band to do a ballet routine and have it fit well. She does love chatting with/collaborating with the group's costume designer though, and during rehearsals she's great at encouraging the group when they keep missing notes or messing up dance steps!

She likes to learn choreography with her s/o, just so that he can have a dance partner even outside of rehearsals...and also because she wants to learn about more "contemporary" styles besides ballet. She thinks all of the moves are just so cool, but she can never really get that "over a decade of ballet" sheen off of her when she dances. Like she's much more graceful and delicate, so she always stands out in group dances lol.

She'd be concerned by how much fanmail her boyfriend's group gets, especially from more obsessive fans. And if his fans in particular were ever nasty towards her (saying she isn't good enough for him, toxic stan shit like that), she'd be really hurt by it the first time it happened. But her boyfriend does his best to help her learn how to not let those toxic messages get to her. And it's just a small vocal minority of fans anyway; most of the messages and posts she sees about her are fans gushing over how cute she and ____ are as a couple. There are a few livestreams that she's been spotted in while the band is being interviewed, and the chat always goes nuts when she appears:

"HARU-CHAAAAAAN"

"ayyy its Haru"

"____ your waifu's behind you lol"

"Awwww she's wearing his merch my heart can't take it 😭😭😭"

[akechicrimes]

Hey crimes, feel free to disregard this tangent but, do u ever feel like P5 inadvertently or otherwise implied Goro was right with his fake “vigilante justice operates outside and the law and thus must be brought to heel” opinion? What with the fact that the Yaldabaoth confrontation implies the thieves work perpetuated humanity’s sloth AND THEN after an entire game showing us the hundreds of people who were at the v least COMPLICIT in shido’s machinations, a system which is (1)

ohhhhh this one is fun!! this is a super neat question, ty for asking!!!

hmmmmmmmmm

im going to try and break this down into parts, partly because persona 5 is such a convoluted mess with its own lines of thinking, so tell me if i dont do it right. the issues are: (1) goro definitely did say that operating outside the law was bad just on principle that you shouldn’t operate outside the law, and (2) persona 5 did definitely go on to say that all of the phantom thieves’ operations outside the law didn’t come to anything in the first place anyway, because they were only targeting individuals instead of mass systemic corruption/their presence was enabling people to become more apathetic.

i think what persona 5 is trying to get at is that it’s not necessarily that acting outside the law is bad, but that, like you said, targeting only individuals doesn’t work as a tactic. so vigilante justice (e.g. batman style of taking down supervillains) cannot compare to societal reform through collective action.

when i say collective action, i mean that i think persona 5 is trying to point out that “systematic” corruption is really just a corruption of many, many, many individuals working in concert--and that “reform” could just be said to be the opposite, which is activism from many, many, many individuals working in concert.

obviously the ending cutscene where akira;s social link network gets together to protest his arrest is the best example of collective reform, but i think one of the things that i rly like about shido’s wide-spread conspiracy is that it does a rly good job of paralleling akira’s social link network, and pointing out that in the same way that shido’s conspiracy is a collective effort of many many many people that make up a “system,” akira’s widespread social link network creates the opposite effect of a collective effort of many many people that make up a force for change. 

which is why having the phantom thieves as a group itself just promotes more apathy--you get one group of people doing all the work for the rest of society, when if anything’s going to change, we need everyone on their feet.

which surprisingly correct, insofar as i’m aware. if society’s going to change in a substantial way, beyond just changing the hearts of a handful of abusers and letting the rest of the system remain untouched, everyone’s got to be involved. collective effort. do your part. wash your hands. stay indoors. don’t forget to vote. seriously, wash your fucking hands.

but when it comes to whether or not persona 5 says that you shouldn’t be acting outside the law... 

i think persona 5 really really really really really doesnt want to be caught promoting lawbreaking while also being You Should Break The Law: The JRPG.

part of this trouble, i think, is just because they need players to actually like the characters in the game, and therefore all the character have sympathetic reasons for breaking the law. because persona 5 has to sell marketable characters, too, persona 5 itself makes it pretty clear that people who operate “outside the law” are usually not evil dipshit criminals who love sin. the people in persona 5 who act outside the law are usually people who dont have enough power to operate inside the law in the first place. akira, the pt, and goro all seem to have resorted to what they did because they had no societal power at the start, wound up with a persona (aka fast and easy power source), and wouldnt have been able to do anything about their situation otherwise. characters who operate outside the law (like takemi with her vaguely illegal practice, or kawakami and her also vaguely illegal sex work, or iwai and his vaguely illegal gun business) are still supposed to be waifus you are sympathetic towards. 

(...i think i accidentally called iwai a waifu? hmm. on second thought, i’ll just leave that sentence as it is.)

and i really do have to point out that persona 5′s attitude of FUCK COPS is insanely strong. like. persona 5 HATES cops. and that doesn’t let up basically ever, at all, at any moment. for anything. persona 5 wants me to believe that makoto will become a good cop in the future, but if i wanted to find an existing good cop, i’d have to go all the way back to persona 4. like!! shit!! goro akechi is the closest thing we have to a good cop, and he has a pet guillotine for CEOs and his middle name is komaeda.

and that part of the big attitude with FUCK COPS is that it’s another way of morally exonerating the phantom thieves. i think... although the game ultimately concludes with “you should probably not break the law any more because the metaverse is gone,” it’s difficult to argue with the fact that persona 5 is a game in which it presents you with 10000000000000 reasons to break the law and feel Great about it.

(another tangent: i feel like one of the big undercurrents of persona 5, and especially the TV station, is that the phantom thieves are justified in their lawbreaking because the police aren’t doing their fucking job. like, someone’s got to keep people safe, and if the cops don’t like the phantom thieves, maybe they should get off their asses and actually get the criminals before the thieves do. akira literally was on live television and he was like ALL COPS ARE BAD and goro was like wow. anyone else think that was really sexy? @ the guy in the glasses in the back, call me later when you’ve leveled up your charm and knowledge.)

so atlus is in this place where they’ve pointed out that people break the law because they dont really have any other choice, and also persona 5 the game HATES cops, and also persona 5 the game cannot tell you that breaking the law is bad because it is literally A Game About Breaking The Law, but at the same time, they cant really go around promoting crime. from a doylist perspective i was 100% unsurprised that they came up with a fancy narrative reason to get rid of the metaverse and their change-of-heart abilities and just the phantom thieves in general, because all of those are a threat to the status quo. although the game might be right that relying on the phantom thieves to change society for the rest of the population makes the rest of the population lazy and apathetic, it’s pretty convenient that this means that the kids are now no longer able to break the law. so persona 5 really wants people to do things the kosher way, e.g. protesting and such. 

hhfmgmhfmghfmgfmghmfhgg. taking this all with a grain of salt, because again, i do think atlus is trying very hard to avoid saying that people should break the law:

i think atlus wants to say that it’s not necessarily acting outside the law that’s not right, but the fact that just loading the phantom thieves with a ton of power makes people apathetic, and changing the hearts of a few individuals is Not enough to get rid of something like shido’s conspiracy. so instead they say, you shouldn’t break the law because it’s not effective without collective reform. 

i think another thing that persona 5 wants us to believe is that for the most effective reform to be achieved, people both inside and outside the law/system have to be involved in the collective effort to improve society. 

e.g., toranosuke wants to be a man of the people--someone who speaks for the people who are outside of the diet, but toranosuke himself is someone inside the diet. sae’s the other good example; the phantom thieves protest akira’s arrest at the end of the game, but sae, as the insider in the justice system, has to be there to hear and work with them. and this might just be because i watched haru’s s link last night, but i feel like takakura is a really good example: haru pushes back against the company’s shitty policies with her “outsider’s” perspective (quoted because she’s technically the largest shareholder, she just hasnt ever been really involved in how the company is run), but takakura, as the company president and most powerful person at okumura foods, has to be there to hear her request and agree with her, and make company changes based on her requests. 

and it’s for this reason that persona 5 wants us to consider maybe lawbreaking isnt morally bad, just not effective.

i wish i could say that that’s more bad atlus writing, but it’s not. i’ve only really examined changing schools on an institutional level, but the best examples of institutional change in school administration have always been cases where the administration, parents, and community members all work together. in some cases, parents bring up requests for the school to accommodate their needs, and the administration listens and works with them. something something--everyone needs an advocate. the point of a lawyer is to advocate for you. the point of a politician/representative is to represent you and your interests. so on and so forth.

(and i also wish that it could be as simple as saying, “wow atlus said something right for once!” because that’s not true, either--acting outside the law can be outrageously effective. persona 5 trying to tell us that acting outside the law to get shit done isn’t effect smells like corporate trying to tell its workers that unionizing doesnt actually do anything.)

(and i also wish that persona 5 would have acknowledged that sometimes, it takes more than just an extremely moral person to change the world. take toranosuke, for example--i’m sure that if he gets elected, he’ll go out there and be a wonderful representative of the people, but at the same time, can’t we also simultaneously acknowledge that any politician who can make “politics” a career for profit will always be incentivized towards self-interest? in the same way that a military for profit will always be incentivized towards war?)

but insofar as whether or not persona 5 thinks that vigilante justice/acting outside the law is in and of itself morally bad--i’d say probably not. i think they want us to think that it’s not effective.

-

-

-

this is a slight tangent that kind of goes off the issue of whether or not persona 5 is concerned with whether or not breaking the law is moral or effective. i was going back through goro’s dialogue in the engine room--who knows if that’s going to be changed in royal--but i was trying to figure out exactly what the phantom thieves condemn him for. (fucking difficult as fuck considering how bizarre that dialogue was at places.) 

the first one is murder, which goro is unimpressed with (LMAO. KING). the second is that he operated outside the law, to which he replies that they did the same thing (valid). the third is that his form of justice was “selfish,” in that it only served his personal need for revenge. at that point, goro changes the subject--which is not really surprising, since goro admitted long before the engine room that his quest against shido was for his own personal satisfaction. 

that is to say, the phantom thieves can’t say that they don’t operate outside the law, because they do--however, if the phantom thieves can’t be legally exonerated, the phantom thieves are morally exonerated despite operating outside the law because they do it for the benefit of others. that’s actually not an incorrect statement from the phantom thieves, although i dont think they’re doing it for Society Writ Large. the phantom thieves in every single palace have taken on targets to help someone else: firstly ann and ryuji and shiho, then yusuke, then various shujin students being blackmailed by kaneshiro, etc, etc. i remember pretty distinctly that ann insists that she doesnt want to get involved with madarame just for drama or fame (whereas ryuji wants to pick a big target just for the sake of getting famous), but she agrees to get involved with madarame’s palace because she doesn’t want to leave yusuke to possibly kill himself like a previous student.

because the phantom thieves are not able to say that they haven’t operated outside the law in the same way that goro has, the dividing line between them is instead that the phantom thieves are doing so selflessly. but this is just an elaboration on the question of whether or not “is lawbreaking moral?” rather than necessarily “is lawbreaking effective?”

there’s an argument that nothing goro or the phantom thieves did was effective in the long run, and there’s an argument that sae is proof positive that working inside the system won’t be effective, either. 

anyway, unions are effective. so maybe we should agree to wash our hands and join a union.

[shiguresxhma-a]

I remember someone asked you about your ships awhile back, and I was wondering why specifically you liked those ships or found them interesting. I love everything you write, so I'd be happy to hear anything you feel like saying about them.

Aw! Thank you! You guys are seriously so supportive of my rambling and I appreciate it a lot! 

Uhhhhh let’s take a look. 

( this got long lets put it under a read more ooopsie ) 

 Let’s start with the canon ones? 

Akigure

This right here will be a love letter to my waifu, Lyd because Lyd’s gotten me to appreciate this pairing more than I ever thought I could. If you’ve followed this blog for a while you know Akigure is an area of in depth discussion. I have such a love/hate relationship with this pairing because it’s foundation is questionable at best, it’s in story chemistry is virtually nonexistent, and the pairing’s ‘happy ending’ is disappointing and confusing. This pairing requires a lot of digging for the little nuggets and reading thoroughly between the lines if you want to make something worthwhile out of it. Because at face value, it’s such a problematic and unappealing pairing. Not to mention, from my experience the ship is either loathed or grossly romanticized but I’ve always tried to keep an open mind for the sake of writing this character who is undeniably attached to this other character. It’s unavoidable. 

But there are concepts with Akigure that are appealing. Which is why Lyd is such a lovely writing partner to ship with, because we essentially see eye to eye when it comes to the best and worst parts of this pairing. 

For starters, the toxicity is fun to play with. It just is. You can’t ignore that this pairing is canonically toxic. So it’s better to run with it than ignore it completely. However, it’s also canon that this pairing gets their room to grow and live a domesticated life together with a child. The softer stuff is also super enriching. 

Basically, the pairing is a rocky concept I’ve learned to enjoy more in practice than how it was served to me. 

Arisa/Kureno

This all boils down to the drama, I’ll be real. There wasn’t so much chemistry between these two as much as the ‘star crossed’ situation drove me absolutely nuts (in a good way). I loved the little b plot throughout the chapters these two met and their stories entangled. It was my favorite romantic side plot in the series. Just a big, suspenseful mess of “If only he’d just tell her” or “they just need to talk to each other” To where Arisa didn’t know it Kureno was a Sohma, and how Tohru didn’t either because she and Arisa met Kureno under completely different circumstances and his demeanor under each kept them guessing. Lack of communication / miscommunications are one of my biggest pet peeves in storytelling especially with romantic drama. But I could forgive it here. It made for surprisingly solid story and character development. In the end I thought these two were just so wholesome and deserved to be happy with one another. (Especially Kureno, my heart forever breaks for Kureno who just deserves to be happy). Not to mention, the idea of Arisa falling for a man who reminds her of her best friend is pretty  gay adorable. 

Okay non canon ships. 

It’s sad that the non canon ships are the more chemistry based of the pairings that I like which is why I like them more than the canon ships. 

Hatori/Shigure

Look guys I been sleeping on this one for years and then I met Sydney and I was so woke. I’ve found that the more popular/common is to pair either of these two with Ayame rather than each other ( WHICH IS STILL LIKE. FINE. AYA IS SO IN LOVE WITH HATORI IT’S BASICALLY CANON. THE ANIME SAID LOVE THEY SAID IT OK ). Or you know, there’s also the trio triad—–the three of them have such undeniable chemistry no matter which way you play it so chemistry isn’t exclusive to this particular matchup. But I still think there’s something so special with these two. Canonically, there’s a banter there which I love.  And Shigure confides in Hatori in ways he doesn’t with anyone else——even Ayame. Hatori knows a side of Shigure that hardly anyone else gets to see. That’s so significant. Not to mention the tropes ? FWB, unrequited, jealousy, hurt/comfort, tea that im slurpin up every damn day like don’t even get me started on taking these two and tossing Akito into the mix. 

Yuki/Haru

Again, I been sleepin and my girl Iz woke me up. These two are just so sweet. Hatsuharu Sohma is a leather pants wearing, ear pierced bicon and you will never take that away from me. He loves Yuki, okay. It’s canon. IDC what you say, it’s canon. Hatsuharu has done so much for Yuki, and in turn, Haru is one of the few people Yuki can be himself around. And Haru ??? Helps Yuki ???? So thanklessly ????? He loves that pretty boy with his whole heart and Yuki don’t even know the half of it and when he does he bursts from love lemme tell you. And look it might seem like nothing, but Yuki went to the main house for Haru. THAT’S BIG.  The chemistry here is adorable and wholesome and I love this pairing a lot. 

Yuki/Kakeru

Similar to YukiHaru but what’s important as fuck here is how Kakeru breaks Yuki out of his shell. Yuki finds a confidence in himself when getting to know Kakeru and becomes the truest, most unforgiving version of himself that he’s ever been and it’s so important. Their friendship is everything, but I mean wouldn’t it be cute if they were boyfriends 👀 ? 

And, um, the guilty pleasure

Tohru/Hatori 

Can we stop pretending that this pairing doesn’t write itself ???? Look, I appreciate their canon relationship a whole fuck ton but let me be a self-indulgent shit. She softened him up, and she’s too similar to Kana it’s like 2+2. 

Honourable mention ? 

TohRin

Kind of similar to Yuki/Kakeru in the fact that their friendship is wonderful and I love it in canon just fine but like what if they were girlfriends. 

[parttimespellbinder]

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Daily Life Arc

Hi! So, this is my first review of something on Tumblr and I’m really happy to start sharing things with people. I’ve always been incredibly opinionated and I like to share those with others. Bear in mind that this is a SPOILERS heavy review, and profanity will be rampant. So without further ado, let’s get started.

This is the story of Tsunayoshi Sawada, a boy so incredibly useless he makes a standard Harem lead look like a compelling and well written character. His grades are horrible, he has zero athletic ability and all together he’s pretty pathetic. He also happens to be the tenth generation heir to the Vongola crime family and is about to be whipped into shape by a fedora wearing, gun toting infant named Reborn. Now Tsuna’s day to day life is a series of hijinxs and misadventures centering around himself and the band of eccentric weirdos that orbit him like we do the Sun.

Reborn was initially penned by one Akira Amano way back in the ye olden days of 2004. It was a big hit at the time in Weekly Shonen Jump so it’s inevetiable that an anime adaptaion would eventually make it’s way down the pipeline. For the sake of brevity I will not be comparing Reborn to it’s source material and I will be attempting to omit the manga entirely unless relevant to this particular review. Even though I like to do it in my day to day life, I kinda hate the whole “let’s compare the adaptation to it’s source material” thing for reviews. I feel here that the anime, or at least this opening arc of it should be able to stand and fall on it’s own merits so...let’s see what it does, shall we? Mind you, all of what’s to follow is my own personal opinions. Cool if you agree, cool if you don’t. 

So if there’s one thing that Reborn’s never winning, it’s a best looking series award. The animation, courtesy of studio Artland (Demon King Daimao and Mushishi) is perfectly serviceable and, if anything,  I like that all the characters have a completely distinct look to them. The hair is totally Shonen, with all of them sporting their own unique style. Points go primarily to Tsuna and Reborn’s spiky hedgehog hairdos. But really and truly, Reborn definitely looks like something that’s been done more than a decade ago, and not in the really good stylistic way like Cardcaptor Sakura. Reborn just looks like a reflection of its time in the most average way possible while sporting some nice character designs. The animation gets kinda static at some points, especially when we like to get all of the relevant characters together for whatever that episode’s activities are. Then it gets worse because then we like to have them just stand around while we exposit a bit. But these moments are rather few and far between. The animation is, of course, at it’s best when we’re doing our high comedy slapstick and points are definitely given out to everyone’s big expressive eyes that were much bigger and more expressive in the manga.

The soundtrack and vocals are much better than the animation though, probably two of the show’s highlights. The vocal cast is absolutely excellent with some of the standouts being the titular Reborn’s, Neeko, and Hitomi Yoshida as the eccentric and bubbly Haru Miura. On the boys side of the vocals, I’ve got to say that Hidekazu Ichinose and Hidenobu Kiuchi definitely steal the show as Hayato Gokudera and Ryohei Sasagawa who tend to be the loudest of the performers. Everyone else does well too, delivering performances that are equal parts over the top, subdued and everything in between depending on what’s needed. The music is great as well, perfectly capturing the moments and characters in every episode. A lot of the characters have their own musical theme that play when they appear on screen or when doing something particularly epic. Special points here go to Bianchi, who gets some jazz and a vocalizing choir as well as Kyoya Hibari who’s theme starts with a few piano keys before jumping into an epic string frenzy. 

So, in these first 19 episodes, we essentially lay a lot of groundwork for the rest of the series that’s to come. The most important concept we introduce is that of “Deathperation”. Every episode, Tsuna and his friends encounter some sort of crisis, more often than not putting all of them or one of our weaker female characters in danger. Reborn will then turn his chameleon Leon into a gun and shoot Tsuna with a “Deathperation Bullet” which kills him but instantly revives him by allowing him to fulfill his last regrets. It’s a plot device that carries the bulk of the show and will continue to carry it though its run. Used here throughout these first 19 episodes, it’s alright, again its more just used to assist with the formulaic set up of the show. The problem I have with it is that we’ve essentially got about 9 episodes too many here and could’ve easily jumped right into the plot. This arc is supposed to introduce us to the world and the characters and it does, but it’s just a bit of a chore to sit though if you’re advertised a more action packed narrative, which Reborn eventually grows into. But really and truly starting the series just kinda leaves you meandering through 19 episodes before arriving at a rather abrupt tonal shift. The series you begin watching and the series you’re watching at episode 20 are rather different creatures, which is why I’m covering the show arc by arc rather than season by season.

So in addition to repetitive formula and lazy plot contrivances, Reborn also has one of the more passive shonen leads in a genre where....yeah….no. That just doesn’t work. Tsuna’s already set up to be practically pathetic in every way and with the introduction of Rebon and the Mafia into his life, Tsuna’s left just trying to survive his day to day life. And again, unless that kind of comedy and writing floats your boat, you’d be better off just watching a few episodes here and there and then just straight skipping right to episode 20 where the actual story starts. Mind you, this is again just my opinion. Reborn was wildly popular as a manga running on this kind of comedy to the point that it was able to do it for 8 straight volumes and was doing so for WEEKS in Weekly Shonen Jump. So clearly someone was heavily invested in this since it was able to keep going like that for WEEKS back to back. So really for me it’s more of a personal preference that my shonen series start with a bang. So we have Tsuna here just kinda...reacting to the weird shit happening in his life, never able to take initiative because of his own inability to actually do anything without Reborn there to pull the trigger and force him to take action. It’s just not the kinda thing that makes for a great leading man to start off with. But how do the other characters fare?

Sadly not particularly well. As the show is primarily a comedy at this point, the characters themselves are a little lacking in layers and depth, usually only existing to orbit Tsuna as if the sun. Oh how applicable that metaphor will become in seasons to come. But as it is, our characters at this point really and truly only have a couple of prominent character traits that are played up for all the comedy it's’ worth. So naturally it gets old fast. Related to the above, Gokudera and Ryohei are likely the most annoying when it comes to this. Gokudera pulls a total 180, initially hating Tsuna and then acting like a slavish dog towards him in the course of his introductory episode. His incessant cries of “JYUDAIME” and proclamations that he’s Tuna’s right hand man are more than just a little annoying and the same can be said for Ryohei’s “KYOKUGEN” lifestyle. Lambo is as annoying as any child in real life would be, which if you hate children like I do will be a rather lovely experience, that is until he’s shot by his 10 Year Bazooka, replacing him with his future self who instantly entered my pantheon of anime men I want to fuck. Pervy Shamal’s a total perv, Bianchi believes in love and is always on the lookout for her poison cooking ingredients and I-Pin is in no way a stereotypical Chinese anime character. Nope, not at all. Yamamoto is easy enough to get behind, with his eternal optimism and stupidity being strangely endearing and Haru, while loud and spaztic is LITERALLY BEST GIRL! OMG MY WAIFU! The worst of the characters is probably Kyoko Sasagawa, or resident sexy lamp. 

Kyoko exists like so many love interest characters before her to show that while our protagonist spends a lot of time interacting with members of the same sex he’s still straight and expresses an interest in one single girl. Tsuna spends most of his time fawning over Kyoko who has just barely enough personality that she doesn’t feel like a total piece of cardboard but she walks a fine line. She literally does nothing relevant and spends most of her time being an inadvertent damsel for Tsuna can save like his life depends on it - which according to the internal series logic of these 19 episodes, he never thought of doing before getting shot by Reborn. Like, she’s not bad, she’s just kinda...there. Tsuna likes her and it’s like...why? She’s pretty, like all of the girls in a shonen show, especially a main one, Kyoko is designed to be very cute but her personality is seriously lacking so it makes you as a viewer wonder why Tsuna is so in love with her. It’s actually kinda insulting that he likes her so much when Haru GENUINELY likes him and actually HAS a personality and he acts like he’ll contract plague if she so much as breathes in his general direction. Tsuna you should be so lucky that Haru even thinks to breathe in your general direction, you insolent swine!!!

But what’s good about the show? Is there anything? Actually yes, there is. As mentioned before, from the character standpoint, Haru is the best damn thing and Yamamoto makes for a great friend to Tsuna. The running gag that he thinks the whole Mafia thing is just a game gets a little annoying but we can’t have everyone taking the whole thing seriously, now can we? Additionally, and I never thought I’d EVER say this but Reborn himself is actually a saving grace. The shit he puts Tsuna though is incredibly sadistic and over the top but he does it so flawlessly that it’s genuinely hilarious. Additionally I like the sibling-like relationship between Tsuna and Dino, the head of an allied family who ALSO instantly entered my pantheon of hot men I want to fuck when I first saw him. While the character jokes get annoying there’s just barely enough to most of them that hints that there’s more to them than what we’re allowed to see. If anything, and I’m speaking from experience, everyone will be much better once the plot is allowed to rear its ugly head. Tsuna himself exhibits very very subtle character growth. He’s less of a wimp than he starts off as but we’ll really see his growth in the arc to follow. The comedy is GREAT when the jokes are used sparingly or when they pop up for the first time. And despite him being an annoying piece of shit, Lambo is laughs aplenty when the slapstick is happening to him.

It’s honestly hard to significantly praise these first episodes and indeed this show at this point because everything about it just kinda feels like a waste of time. Aside from the initial character introductions, you don’t really need to sit through all 19 episodes. Maybe just watch episodes 1-10 and then 19 and you can skip right to episode 20 which contains the meat of the show. How do I feel about it after all these years? Well, I do love Reborn, warts and all I just don’t appreciate my time being wasted, but here I am about to go and keep watching because I know in my heart of hearts that it’ll be worth it. So, I’d this first arc a...5.5 out of 10. It’s just engaging enough to me personally because I know it’s an unpolished piece of coal at this point and I’m waiting for my diamond to break through. So...those are my initial thoughts. Join me again next time for a review of The Novice and my follow up to this with the Rokudo Mukuro/Kokuyo arc. Special thanks to my little sister Krystal for helping me form and shape the review and offering her opinions on it as well. She also helped to edit it.

[misty-wisp]

top 5 smt/persona characters? :3

YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME THEY'RE ALL WONDERFUL-

okay uh. uh uhhhh. there's gonna be a lot of favoritism in this, like a lot a lot...

funnily enough, i did make a personal tier list for persona characters, but i can't find it anywhere...i'll remake it if anyone asks.

anyways, onto that top 5-

5. Yukari Takeba/Yosuke Hanamura

I can't choose between them for this spot, I love them both too much 😭

What can I say, Yukari's my girl. I feel like she's one of the most realistically written girl's in the Persona series, especially in the Answer, even though that's where most people have problems with her.

I really don't get those people, like...c'mon. She's a human being, not a "waifu" who can't experience the emotions that come with grief. lmao.

And Yosuke...Yosuke resonates with me. I, too, am a lonely bored bitch living in a small town...Or, I used to. I'm no country kid these days. lmao.

Seriously, Yosuke is a WHOLE mood aside from the anime trope-type stupidity forcibly written onto him in certain scenes. Moving out of the city and slowly losing contact with your old friends except maybe one? Wow...he's LITERALLY me!

4. Ann Takamaki

Ann's also my girl. I love her to pieces and I will never forgive ATLUS for their butchering of her entire character past her introductory arc.

I've already made a post about this a long time ago, but her social link rank where she talks about the loneliness she felt from moving around so much really resonated with me, and the fact that she managed to befriend not only Shiho, but the other thieves is kind of inspirational to me. I hope to find my own thieves someday, as cheesy as that sounds :)

3. Isamu Nitta

I bet'cha weren't expecting an SMT fella to be on this list, huh? Jokes on you, I actually really like the self isolation enjoyer!

...But I also hate him. And the entire idea of Musubi. I have a very complicated love/hate relationship with this boy. On one hand, I love him, he deserves happiness, but on the other, he's a stupid idiot. I distinctly remember just yelling at my TV "nO-" when he was going off about his bullshittery, because I've been in that kinda spot. I've been isolated from people for years. It's a hell I want to get out of.

But I still love him, he deserves so much better than what life and the Conception dealt him :(

2. Ryoji Mochizuki

Surprise, not surprise! The moon boi himself at number two, who would've guessed?

Honestly, Ryoji's such a tragic character. His characterization in P3 is pretty bad, with a severe lack of screentime in the game. Luckily for me, though, that's improved in not only the movies, but P3P!

I watched through the P3 movies while in the middle of playing the game so I could hurry up and get info on his character, because I wound up spoiling myself somehow(deadass i don't remember how. i just did. i think it was bc i browse the megaten wiki a lot), and lo and behold, I wound up really loving him! He's just...such a sweetheart...gently holds

...And then I played through the rest of P3 and got severely disappointed by how much screentime he got in comparison to the movies.

like. my god. this man got less screentime than Haru did in vanilla P5.

So then I looked through his P3P social link because I learned he was romanceable! And then I nearly cried at how tragic it is. I just...the fucking RING, man...brb crying

so there's no wonder that i ship ryoham and ryomina lmao

1...even though it's unsurprising as hell...Goro Akechi

If you weren't expecting him, then you deserve a gold medal because you actually failed at predicting the most predictable lady on this Earth. Applause.

Akechi's like...like an onion. He's got layers. A lot. Too many. I still can't understand this bastard's character and have to look through analysis after analysis to gain a better understanding because I'm big dum :(

Funnily enough, though, before Royal was released, I was part of the Akechi hate bandwagon, because how DARE this guy mess up what the gang is doing >:((((((!!!!! He's BAD, I DON'T like him >:(

...I didn't play P5. I was only going off of shitposts and discussions whilst severely spoiling myself. Oh, and the limited amount of game footage I got from watching my (at the time, not) boyfriend streaming himself playing through vanilla P5.

And then Royal released! ...And I didn't play it because I did not own a PS4 at the time, like a fool.

Fast forward a few years. I got majorly spoiled (again, forgot how) and I barely have an opinion on Akechi. I have just finished playing through P4G, and just began playing through P3.

And then in comes Christmas, and I get a PS4 along with P5R!

...And then I took a solid year playing the game on and off to finish it, and finish it I did...but only the vanilla story. By then, I really liked Akechi. He was on a similar tier to Isamu. He's a tragic boi for sure...and he needed some more screentime, goddammit!

And screentime he got, with the addition of third semester, which made him even more tragic! Boy oh boy, my favorite flavor of character!

His navigator lines are the funniest shit I've ever seen. I was genuinely pretty salty that he gets replaced with Futaba pretty quickly purely because she's not as entertaining.

Yeah, I cried at 2/2. Ever since I beat the game, my discord status has just been "2/2 broke me" and I think that says enough about how much I love Akechi. lmao.

[areeta9]

My Waifu/Husbando List

(Here is a list of my husbandos/waifus and why. Bear with me, I just felt like sharing)

Husbando

Fafnir(Ms. Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid)

Long black hair: Fricken love it, especially on male characters. I also love red eyes on characters because even though they’re usually used on villainous characters, I think the black hair, red eyes combination is beautiful and it works really well on Fafnir(You can tell he was based off of Sebastian). I also love a well-dressed man. But the best parts of Fafnir are his bromance with Takiya and the stark contrast between his looks and his gaming addiction.

Tamaki Suoh (Ouran High School Host Club)

I shipped this boy with Haruhi from Day 1. He’s a dumb butt rich boy, but I love him. He’s a goofball but at the same time he also has that princely charm. He does so much for the Host Club and he cares a lot about all its members and they care about him too. Also, I’ll say this a 100% unironically: Tamaki is GORGEOUS.  Sharply dressed, nicely cared for blond hair, violet(or blue, if you’re a manga reader)...Just, yes.

Chezem (Shall We Date? My Sweet Prince)

Chezem is a love from my dating sim days. He was the first prince I went for in the game and to this day is still my favorite. He’s a scholarly boy with trust issues. Wonderful. His route was beautiful and his CGIs warmed my heart to the core. The few times you see him genuinely smile are just the best. I also love his overall design. He even wears reading glasses(That megane appeal is on point!).

Keima Katsuragi (The World God Only Knows)

Ah, the megane once again. He’s cute, what can I say. He’s smart and he loves games, what more could you want? I personally think it would be very fun to be one of his “conquests”. Even if you know it’s not gonna last, you know he’s going to make sure you have a good time.

Kenji Yamaguchi (My Little Monster)

Is it bad that as I was watching My Little Monster, I slowly began to route for Yamaguchi even though I knew Haru was gonna win(I don’t really like characters with anger issues)? He’s sort of an Ace in universe but he’s also a bit of a jerk. So why do I like him??? He’s smart, but there’s a lot of characters who are smart. I think it’s how he falls for Shizu in the anime. Maybe I like the thought of someone who acts so above it all being brought down to their knees because they caught feelings.

Lancer: Diurmuid Ua Duibhne(Fate Zero)

I feel bad for Lancer. He was one of the characters in Fate/Zero that I really didn’t want to die. I knew it was inevitable but all he wanted to do was be a loyal knight! He’s such a great guy but his luck is TERRIBLE. I think the fact that he met such an unfortunate end makes me like him more because now I want to write a story where nothing happens to him.

Waifu

Now because I’m straight, I’m not actually sexually attracted to my waifus and they may not be waifus by the same criteria that others would make waifus.

Yona(Yona of the Dawn)

SLAY ME, QUEEN! I love Yona!  Her character development is to die for! She is kind, she is strong, and she is cute as a button. She is a beautiful queen and long may she reign!

Hinata Kawamoto (March Comes In Like a Lion)

Hina is on this list because I can’t help but applaud her strength during the bullying arc. She has the inner strength that I WISH I had in her situation. She stood up for her friend, stood up for herself, and did not decide to fight her tormentor. She sought help when she needed but didn’t let her struggles keep her from moving forward. Love this girl.

 Don’t Know You But I Love You

These are for the characters from shows I haven’t watched but am already fond of.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi(Shoujo Chara)

Catboy who is also a tease. Enough said.

Victor Nikorov (Yuri on Ice)

Why does he have to be so hot?! I avoided watching Yuri On Ice because I didn’t want to become a fujoshi yet this man. This man right here. Oh lordy. The ice skating, the hotspring scene.....I’m weak.

Love Them So Much I Can’t Even Call Them a Husbando

Izuku “Deku” Midoriya (My Hero Academia)

I am not good enough for Izuku. I can’t even call him a husbando. He’s too pure. He is the best hero. He is incredibly smart, brave, and heroic and he’s everything I aspire to one day be. Except reckless. I’m not too fond of breaking my arms.

It would be nice if I could hear about your opinions of my list because I know that a person’s waifu/husbando(s) is supposed to reflect a lot about them and what they want from a partner but I don’t personally see a pattern with these guys.

Who are your waifus and husbandos?

[symphonicwinds]

Sophia reviews P5 Confidants Pt. 2

If you haven’t read the explanation/seen the first part of this series, please click here! This part covers Arcanas 5 - 9 (Hierophant to Hermit). As always, this post contains late ass spoilers so please read at your own risk! 

The next part will cover the next 4 -5 arcanas, so stay tuned!

V. HIEROPHANT – SOUJIRO SAKURA

BEST LINK IN THE GAME.

Sorry. I just, holy shit you guys. Soujiro’s link is the best link in the entire game. Hands down. No question. I love Soujiro so much.

I think Soujiro’s link succeeds where other links don’t in a few ways.

1.       Coffee/curry making

The coffee/curry making mechanic is great because not only does it allow you to make SP healing items, but it allows you to bond with Soujiro outside of his social link. You also get to learn new facts about coffee, similar to Catherine’s alcohol system, making it pretty much my favourite nighttime mechanic. It makes Soujiro’s social link easier to max, it gives you an SP healing item and you get to hang out with Soujiro, who is like, the best non-party member in the game. There is no downside to making coffee.

2.       Futaba and Soujiro in one link? Sign me the fuck up

I’ve mentioned before that Persona 5’s confidants are great because they often involve other characters outside of the protagonist. Soujiro’s confidant is unique in that it heavily involves Futaba, rather than a minor character. So not only do you get character development from Soujiro, you also get character development for Futaba! Seeing them bond and become closer is the most heart warming thing in the entire game. You can also see how much Soujiro loves Futaba, not just because she’s the daughter of the woman he loved, but for herself, and seeing how far he’ll go to protect her (and later you) literally melts my heart.

3.       Soujiro gradually warms up to you

At the beginning of the game, Soujiro treats you as little more than a burden to him, and often threatens that he’ll kick you out if you cause any trouble. However, as you advance his confidant, he slowly warms up to you, and by the end of it you, him and Futaba are basically an adopted family. And can I just say that this family dynamic is great because it emphasises that everyone chooses to be together? It’s definitely a family built on love and trust, created over time and I absolutely adore the Sakura family.

4.       Great dynamic between strength and vunerability

While you see Soujiro at a lot of his weakest moments throughout his story (main story and social link), Soujiro never appears weak, in a way where he needs rescuing. Obviously you do end up rescuing him in the way of stealing Futaba’s uncle’s heart, but he never shows signs of weakness throughout the game. He is incredibly resilient, which is admirable, but you know that he is not perfect and that he is incredibly vunerable, especially when it comes to Futaba. It creates this weird mix between wanting to protect him, but also respecting him for his own strength, which he has in spades.

5.       Great synergy between main conflict and side conflict

Soujiro’s social link succeeds where Haru’s fails in that it handles multiple issues extraordinarily well. It focuses his relationship with Futaba and his issues with Futaba’s uncle as the central plot, and smaller moments are devoted with resolving Soujiro’s feelings for Wakaba, Futaba’s mother. Both stories are presented so well, and it makes Soujiro an incredibly interesting and dynamic character.

As I previously mentioned, Soujiro’s confidant skill is allowing you to make coffee and curry. The farther you level his confidant, the better you get at making curry and coffee. This is introduced early in the game and his food will be ABSOLUTE LIFESAVERS in Palaces, and at this point of the game the best SP healing items you can get are pop cans that heal 5 SP, in contrast to the coffee which heals 30. The only downside to this is that it takes time to make, but again, you get to learn about coffee and hang out with Soujiro! Guaranteed to have a good time.

VI. LOVERS – ANN TAKAMAKI

Ann is… one of those confidants where I like her in the main story, more than her social link.

I sympathize with Ann a lot because I can personally relate to her story in game. I also think that she’s adorable and I love her relationship with Ryuuji.

But her social link. Oh man.

I had originally decided that Ann was best girl, early on in the game. She was it. She was going to be my waifu. But then I did her social link, and I just, couldn’t do it. I felt like her social link was weaker in comparison to some of the later links because I didn’t find her story that compelling. I appreciate aspects of it; her, realizing that she loves modelling and working hard at it, her relationship with Shiho and her dealing with Shiho’s recovery, but these things were overshadowed by what I disliked about the link. I didn’t really like Mika, and the use of her as a foil for Ann wasn’t that effective for me. I think it would have been better if Ann had reached her “cap” when it comes to her modelling career, and then from there she can realize that she needs to work hard in order to get what she wants. Mika completely fell flat for me as a character, and all of her interactions with Ann were very unenjoyable and borderline unpleasant to watch.

Ann’s link definitely had the Protagonist as a cheerleader to Ann’s pursuits. And as much as that can be applied to literally every social link, I didn’t feel like the Protagonist was as active in Ann’s story. Obviously the outlier here was when the Protagonist gets to tease Ann to make her “stronger”, but that aside, he felt like he was watching, rather than getting involved.

All of that aside, I think my biggest issue with Ann, not only as a character but with her social link, is that it feels like you mixed Rise and Chie’s social links from Persona 4 and put it into one person. Ann, also feels like a mix of Chie and Rise. I don’t really like saying that about the Persona 5 characters, because overall I feel like they’re all diverse enough to be considered their own people, but Ann is pretty much my sole exception to this. In short, there were times where Ann really felt like Rise (modelling and bubbliness) or really felt like Chie (with the “getting stronger” objective and her feistiness), and I did not enjoy the times where Ann felt like Chie, just because I don’t like Chie.

And with all of those things together, Ann’s social link is probably one of the more weaker ones in Persona 5. It’s not bad, but I simply didn’t enjoy it as much as the others.

Ann’s unique confidant boost is making negotiations with Shadows easier. This isn’t really that great, just because literally every party member gains this ability as well, so it doesn’t really give the player incentive to level her confidant for the sake of her bonus.

VII. CHARIOT – RYUUJI SAKAMOTO

I liked Ryuuji’s link. It is not one of the best, I enjoyed it and I liked seeing Ryuuji outside of the Phantom Thieves.

I think Ryuuji’s link is good because it showcases Ryuuji’s character well. The Ryuuji in his confidant is very different from Skull/Phantom Thieves Ryuuji, as he’s a lot more soft spoken and caring in this. Obviously some of his brashness and anger is still there, but his link reminds you that Ryuuji isn’t just some thickheadded idiot, and is more perceptive and intelligent than what you see in the main storyline.

I think my biggest issue with Ryuuji’s link was that it wasn’t really about Ryuuji. While it did show Ryuuji in a softer light, in a way, Ryuuji was sidelined in his own confidant in favour for his track team. It’s not enough of an issue for you to say, forget that this is Ryuuji’s link and not the track team’s link, but I kind of wish that it was a bit more centered around him. But what was there was incredibly solid, and I liked seeing Ryuuji plot his little missions to eavesdrop on the new track coach, and him obtaining the resolve to train on his own, rather than depending on a team.

Ryuuji’s unique confidant boost is the ability to INSTANTLY KILL ENEMIES that are weaker than you and take their personas if you have room. This is actually, really really great. Especially when you’re combing Momentos for targets on high levels, it makes Momentos traversing a breeze. Also, if you power grind to 99 to fuse all of the personas/fight Caroline and Justine, it makes the last dungeon a freaking cakewalk.

VIII. JUSTICE – GORO AKECHI

Goro’s link is another link that advances as the story advances, so I’m going to talk about Goro’s relationship with the Protagonist and him as a character in general.

Goro is my favourite character in the whole game.

I’m not going to lie. Totally had a crush on Goro since day one. I have a thing for pretty boys, and I genuinely, genuinely thought that Goro was earnest in his sense of justice and in catching the Phantom Thieves.

I was wrong. I was so, so wrong.

I was kind of hoping that he wouldn’t be the traitor because he was the Justice Arcana, and how could he be evil when he shares an arcana with Nanako Dojima? But he was.

It’s wrong to say that Goro is evil though. It simplifies his character when he is the most well written and the most underutilized character in the whole game.

What makes Goro’s character work is the Reveal. Again, I did not anticipate him being evil at all, and it shocked me that he was. Similarly to the Fake Igor, learning about his backstory and his plans makes you rethink every single encounter and appearance you’ve seen. And, even though his pride did not allow him to see his father’s plan to dispose of him after the election, you have to give him credit for being able to create/conduct such an elaborate plot against the Phantom Thieves.

Goro is a murder. He’s also a sociopath. But he is a product of years, and years of emotional abuse, and being absolutely starved of any love and affection. What makes Goro compelling is that he didn’t have to be evil. That, as Yusuke said, any one of the Phantom Thieves could have became like him if they hadn’t met the Protagonist. And he acknowledges this! He knows things could have been different, but they aren’t and that’s what makes his character so tragic. And despite loathing and being extremely jealous of the Protagonist, he genuinely cares about them, from not exposing Morgana’s identity to Shido to “sacrificing” himself to allow them to escape. He had experienced genuine care and love from the Protagonist, when it was already too late, and that’s what makes him a fantastic character.

When it comes to his relationship with the Protagonist, their bond is subtle, but impactful. Even though Goro knows who you are and your identities, he still confides in you, about his past in Leblanc and of his tiredness of being the Detective Prince. I’ve seen some people critique Goro’s social link because it doesn’t seem to make sense in certain areas why it would increase, but I feel like it’s your subconscious trust of Goro, even if it’s not openly displayed. All of this cumulates in the final battle with him, where, despite fully knowing that he had killed both Futaba and Haru’s parents, that they were willing to team up with him to take down Shido. I found this moment to particularly impactful because it also, ultimately changes Goro’s mindset too, as this offer is what provokes him into saving you from Cognitive Goro and telling him to avenge Shido in his honour.

Unfortunately, other than basic party skills, Goro does not provide any sort of social link bonuses. That isn’t something you really neeed to worry about, because he’s a story progressing social link and maxing him is part of the true ending but it still kind of blows that he doesn’t really add much to your gameplay :/ 

IX. THE HERMIT – FUTABA SAKURA

Futaba is definitely one of my favourite characters in the game, and she was more a little sister to me than Nanako ever was. Between her confidant, Soujiro’s confidant and the main story, she probably gets the most screentime other than the Protagonist. And her confidant is solid too!

Futaba’s social link is similar to Ryuuji’s where her personality really shines. She is incredibly endearing in her attempts to intergrate herself into society/fulfill her promises, and there was a good mix of humour with serious moments, similar to Yusuke’s social link. Futaba’s link was more successful than Yusuke’s in that she made me laugh! Futaba is genuinely an enjoyable character to watch, with all of her erratic behaviours, and it offset the more serious parts of her social link quite well. I wouldn’t say this is necessarily a bad thing, but I felt like the humour outshone the serious issues in Futaba’s social link.

Futaba’s other friendship is with her friend Kana, who she wishes to reconnect with. Although Kana is not explicitly shown in the entirety of her link, she works because she is a support to Futaba’s development, and acts nicely as Futaba’s motivation to overcome her social anxiety and past trauma. Again, this allows Futaba to remain the center of her link, while the other characters support her, in contrast to Ryuuji, who got overshadowed by the track team.

As a romance option, oh boy. I’m not surprised that Futaba is popular as a lover, because she so freaking endearing and adorable, especially when you confess to her. Her link is also fairly obvious in showing her affection for the Protagonist, and it legitimately hurt me to reject her. While I personally see her more as a little sister (especially with her Japanese voice actress making her sound a lot more childish and zany), her romance link is TOP NOTCH.

Futaba’s social link bonuses are probably one of the best of the game, as she gives you a variety of supports in battle, from things like evasion/speed ups to free heat risers and SP healing. She can also figure out the layout of various Momentos floors, and replenish treasure in palaces/Momentoes, making her supremely useful and worth your time to max out, above other characters.

[turkborne]

Fanfic Questions!: 6, 8, 9, 14, 18, 23, 27, 31, 32, 46, annnddd 51!

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

Oh god....I REFUSE. Too many I’ll handpick a few though?

Yu Yu Hakusho: Kurama/Hiei, Raizen/Yuusuke, Kurama/Kuronue, Karasu/Kurama....

Inuyasha: Sesshoumaru/Kagome [futurefic only aka kags no longer able to go through the well and sess is the only one left alive or some shit. Bonding happens.]

Sesshoumaru/Inuyasha

Hunter x Hunter: Think problematic and it’s probably my OTP....

Final Fantasy VII: Tseng/Rufus, Veld/Rufus, Reno/Rufus, Seph/Cloud, Reno/Cloud, Vince/Tseng

Free! aka Swimming Gays: Rin/Nagisa [I had a biker au rp that sold me on this], Rin/Haru

Voltron: ...Thulaz. Thace/Ulaz? My feels in this series haven’t settled. Kuro/Shiro. Sendak/Shiro. Thace/Ulaz/Shiro

Pokego: Fuck me sideways I am not picking an OTP.

8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

Well, Voltron I saw pretty art on my Tumblr, asked a friend if it was worth watching and got the green light. No regrets.

PokeGo I stumbled into Surfi’s comics, stuck around. Then I picked up on some D/s undertones and stalked Surfi enough to know writing my fic would be well received. I haven’t left. I don’t think anyone minds that though.

9. What are the best things about your current fandom?

Voltron: It’s popular, so there’s a ton of shit going on? (This fandom is a shitshow. Antis everywhere. Tread lightly.)

Pokemon Go: Chill peeps. I love all of you. Never leave me.

14. Go on, who are your BroTPs?

...BroTP implies that I think they couldn’t fuck. CHIBI DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU’RE TALKING TO?

18. What ship have you written the most about?

Current fandom, probably Spark/Blanche? I do try to spread the love but this dynamic is easy.

All time? Probably Tseng/Rufus. 

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

For pokego, probably Injured Heart which surprisingly isn’t smut? I just really am fond of angst and It really was nice to write this plot bunny.

For Voltron, Sating the Galra was fun. A good smutty time.

27. What do you hate more: Coming up with titles or writing summaries?

I feel like my summaries are worse than my titles. They lack the ability to grab attention the way I’d like.

31. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

Most people compliment my style. I know my writing needs work to get it where I want it to be. 

Just I have an old memory to share I suppose. One of having my regents essay opening read allowed in front of my class because I decided to fuck around with the test in a good way and make my teachers laugh. I was never the funny kid, but that moment, no matter how embarrassed I was, I knew I had written something good and done something nice for someone else with my writing and that feeling stuck with me. I was in high school, it was a long time ago, but events like that shape people.

32. Do you listen to music when you write or does music inspire you? If so, which band or genre of music does it for you?

Music rarely influences my writing. I prefer having netflix marathoning something I’ve already seen in the background.

46. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?

Depends on if they’re an innocent bean or not. What are their kinks? I prefer to recommend fics based on what they’d most enjoy. 

51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

Rant:

The lack of feedback is killer. I understand I write smut, but let’s look at some stats here. This is for the Voltron fandom here:

Hits: 1291 Kudos: 63 Comment Threads: 1 Bookmarks: 7

Recent Pokego fic:

Hits: 99 Kudos: 14 Comment Threads: 1 [The comment is Chibi’s fyi, who comments on all of my pokego stuff p much.]

My most popular pokego fic:

Hits: 874 Kudos: 16 Comment Threads: 1 Bookmarks: 4

Even if half of those hits are rereads, why are there so few Kudos? You don’t have to be signed in. Hitting that one little button when you’ve finished a fic might not seem like much but it really makes a difference. You can sort fics by Kudos count on ao3. I’m not going to ask for a ton here. I know most of you here do leave kudos and a bunch of you personally tell me things. Here’s the thing: ao3 does have the option to sort fics by comments and kudos.

Now, for as small of a fandom pokego is, it doesn’t matter much on ao3 for me. By sheer smut volume I outproduce anyone else. It is relevant with my other fic though.

Gush:

The support of fellow writers! Chibi is a blessing. Waifu keeps me afloat.